Fugitive N.H. couple caught at theme park

Thursday, November 29, 2012 -- Anonymous (not verified)

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Author(s):

Matt Stout

O'Ryan Johnson

Police on the hunt for the Plaistow, N.H., couple wanted for two weeks on child abuse charges finally caught up to the on-the-lam lovers yesterday, arresting them as they took in a parade at Universal Studios in Orlando — all while the 3-year-old boy they’re accused of leaving burned and beaten sat in a hospital bed, authorities said.

“I find it very sad that these two were located in an area designed to bring joy and happiness to children,” New Hampshire-based U.S. Marshal David L. Cargill Jr. said of Jessica Linscott, 23, and her boyfriend, Roland Dow, 27.

U.S. marshals swooped in on the unsuspecting couple about 6 p.m., just as “they finished watching a parade and were heading back toward (the) attractions area,” authorities said.

Linscott, who is facing multiple counts of child endangerment, and Dow, who is also facing first- and second-degree assault charges, spent the night in an Orange County jail and are expected to appear in a Florida courtroom today on fugitive from justice charges. If they waive rendition, they will be returned to the Granite State.

“When I found out, it was a big burden just lifted off my body,” Paul Nicholson, the paternal grandfather of Linscott’s 3-year-old son, said in a phone interview. “Now they have to pay the consequences.”

The boy, who was dropped off at Exeter Hospital two weeks ago with a badly burnt wrist and fingers and a skull so battered that doctors thought he’d been blinded, has undergone two brain surgeries, Paul Nicholson said, and is expected to regain his eyesight. He is in the custody of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, Nicholson said.

“It’s going to be a long recovery,” he said.

The outpouring of tips proved key, authorities said, with the U.S. Marshals Service calling the number of tipsters “sometimes overwhelming.”

“We knew we would get them,” said Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams. “It was just a matter of when.”